Four years ago, when I worked in-house writing and editing for a smallish mixed media and search marketing company, one of our key content strategies for ourselves as well as clients, was an online press release. We used them to  build buzz AND boost inbound links to client sites. It was a key SEO/SEM tactic in our then cutting-edge list of such tactics.

Interestingly enough, I’ve noticed that the online press release is less and less in favor, despite its simplicity and relative ease of exposure:

• press releases are easy to get written–because they are one of those higher end content machines you can expect to pay more for a copywriter or shell out a few hundred to an online pr firm…or you can always cobble one together yourself if you have the time. If you’re going to write it yourself a word of caution: some of the more well-known online submission sites have stiff editorial guidelines and expectations. They’ll reject it in a skinny minute if it violates TOS — sounds too much like an ad– or is just plain lousy.

• they are a relatively easy to submit online

• dozens of online pr submission sites invite releases from FREE to many hundreds of dollars depending upon number of links and type of content.

I can still turn up press releases in online search for this now defunct company I worked for– we used them ourselves as a key strategy for building brand and market buzz, besides their usefulness as SEO levers.

Who IS Using Press Releases?

But the PR on press releases has been skewed in the last few years precisely due to the fact that their usefulness IS divided into 2 distinctly separate camps:

1. the PR folks — and they’ve gone totally social media
2. the SEO and marketing people (who might also include guerrilla marketers who will do any and all of it to generate buzz, brand, links, story, PR, debate, controversy, you name it…).

Illustrating the range of the “marketing”-driven press release consider the way StomperNet used a press release a few months back to herald a massive shift in their leadership:

They used the “press release” for a blog post– like this:

but they also sent it out to their email subscribers in the body of an email and Andy Jenkins posted it on his blog, as well. Of course a zillion internet marketing groupies “picked it up.” But did it actually make it to any of the traditional online news release sites, or was this a primo way to make a big  announcement look more official and link-worthy?

I say it was a brilliant bit of linkbait if ever I saw one…

Divided Followers…

Ironically here’s a  story posted on MarketingCharts.com almost one year ago, News Releases Not Just For Press, and based on a then current survey that showed — not surprisingly here, — that many SEO/SEM firms and marketers use the reliable online news release as SEO strategy as opposed to a traditional “press” release intended to appeal to journalists and the like. Apparently this was like new news or something (?). Does it really take a couple of years in Internet time to get results like this on a survey of “current” marketing techniques that for many are already …. old standards?

This former article juxtaposed with this most recent, Less Than Half of PR People Deem Press Releases ‘Useful’, serves to illustrate the press release great divide.

Reason Why You Might Consider Using Press Releases

1. Because these guys all say so:

TopRankBlog

Linking Matters

Seobook

Search Engine Journal

2. Because few others are really taking advantage of these content tools to build links, site appeal, brand, news, reputation…

3. And because they remain a proven method for creating natural links back to your site or blog.

As someone with more than a passing interest in filmmaking, and an obvious interest in internet marketing, I’m extremely impressed by what I’ve seen at www.buyacredit.com. Three young filmmakers have put together a website that  helps to both  finance and promote their next film project at the same time. The concept incorporates some great angles that work for linkbait as well as conventional promotional techniques.

The basic premise is that the guys want to make a film based on a pretty much forgotten Jules Verne story, Clovis Dardentor. They’ve set themselves a budget of £1 million to make the film, and wish it to be self-financed. In order to get such a large sum together, they’ve come up with the idea of selling some of the end credits to the film at £1 / $2 per credit.

While this isn’t an especially original idea – low budget filmmakers have been sourcing finance through approaching wealthy donors for many years, with an Exec Producer of somesuch credit as the reward, and many arts and sports performances are funded at least partly through donations in exchange for a listing in the programme – the way they’re promoting it is perfect for the age of social media.

Their website allows you to both signup to get a credit, plus advertise your own site through their pixel wall (remember the media buzz surrounding www.milliondollarhomepage.com and its creator, Alex Tew, a few years ago?) for a larger donation to the funding of the film.

Where they’ve really managed to tap into the zeitgeist, though, is by recruiting UberTwitterer Stephen Fry, both to appear in their film and promote it through his regular tweets and blog posts. Stephen Fry is well-known for his love of technology and microblogging, plus he’s an accomplished and famous actor, so he was obviously the perfect fit for this project. Another coup is in enlisting the help of Sir Ian McKellen and Joanna Lumley – not previously especially associated with tech fads, but obviously both famous and helpful for promotional purposes.

So the Buyacredit boys have simultaneously made use of 2 of the hot issues of our age – celebrities and Twitter – and bundled them together with a timeless universal desire for fame and recognition.

Could it be repeated? Well, there were countless pixel advertising sites that set up in the wake of Million Dollar Homepage, quite a number of which made good money, so I’d say there is certainly mileage in this concept. Indeed, I can see it being extended and merged with the Exec Producer idea, such that people could pay a larger sum in order to come on board a film production and be taught on the job, whilst at the same time being given that particular credit. (ie working alongside the actual member of the production team whose credit they will share).

For now, though, I simply commend the people behind Buyacredit.com for a brilliant piece of promotion and internet marketing.

Linkerati are folks who are the target of linkbait. These are people who give you links and help you market your post. When you write a linkbait, you may want to contact these guys to help spread the word. Here are the different types of linkerati:

• Bloggers
• Forum posters
• Web News Writers
• Content Creators _
• Resource Editors _
• Social Taggers _
• Viral Connectors
• Journalists

Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/identifying-the-linkerati

Anyone who’s in business, building a reputation, building a brand must get smart to viral content.

This includes video. BUT you might imagine that some of the same tactics could be applied to other content tools as well…

400 MILLION YouTube users, says Google

This excellent post I’m about to share from the guys at Brand Strategy Insider, will hopefully illustrate why getting savvy to the power of viral content NOW can head off mercenary attacks on your rep (which btw could also save you millions of dollars in potential LOST MONEY- so the ROI on these business strategies is worth it.).

Hear what happened to Domino’s (approval ratings in the dumper, stock values dropped, and many millions of dollars in lost business …) when a couple of super-dolt employees filmed themselves screwing with customer’s food and then uploaded the video to YouTube….here’s the story plus an expert business brander’s analysis of how a company or business of any size could have stepped in instantly to tank the attack…

[before you read this (or think it doesn't apply to you) imagine how someone could screw with your business, your brand, your good reputation...would you know how to mount an immediate and  mercenary response?]

“This was fast turning into every CEO’s biggest nightmare – in just eight hours Domino’s Pizza had become a ticking brand bomb.” –Viral Brand Crisis and Strategy

This Domino’s “case study” is certainly not isolated. Here’s another recent YouTube hit story that could be titled, a disgruntled United Airlines passenger launched an effective YouTube campaign that not only got the company’s stakeholders pricking up thier ears, but plenty of media got wind, as well.

Beyond YouTube…Getting Deep and Targeted with Viral Video Seeding

Here’s an eye-popping case study of exactly how Unruly Media built a “mercenary” viral video branding strategy for Burger King. (here’s a “side” of BK you may not have caught before…:)

Burger King and the “Bootyful Game”

a snippet from Unruly’s case study:

“Viral success, with millions of free views…. Does it shift brand favourability? Does it shift product? Burger King’s Bootyful Game shows definitively that this can be done.”

Unruly Media has an excellent list of viral resources… a must-read, a must-link to….

Wikipedia’s list of “Notable Viral Video Sites”

How often do you hear the term “linkbait” used in the IM world? Not often enough. Why? Because linkbait writing is an advanced content strategy. You can’t create linkbait from automatic content or scrape it, or otherwise get it quick and dirty– like many IMers prefer.

No, linkbait in its truest form is high-value content. It’s gold medal.  One perfect linkbait can net you dozens, even hundreds of inbound links. Multiple linkbait …. wow.

I love writing linkbait–it’s (thankfully) challenging and it holds massive traffic driving potential, you feel as though you are about to blow everyone around you right out of the water. Sadly, many pro marketers fail to consider the linkbait strategy a critical component in their online business blueprint.

To explain this concept further I’m reprinting an article by internet marketing diva and web developer, Kim Roach, “Why Aren’t You Using Linkbait.” Why reinvent the wheel when she breaks it down so perfectly? This article was published a few years ago, when linkbait was a new link-building tactic, but the concept and strategy remain rock solid, which is another reason why the linkbait component is important– it provides long-haul link juice. And I guarantee it’s not leaving the scene anytime soon.

Before I give you her article, a quick word about Kim Roach. I love, love, love this woman. In an industry where women are rarely the focus of….anything, really….here is a rockstar IM female. She is a writer/editor for SiteProNews.com, she has dozens of articles smartly wall-papering the Internet stratosphere, she’s a successful web developer in her own right, she recently successfully launched her own product, InstantPaydayFormula, and she’s a fantastic writer, as well. And any IMer that preaches the value of linkbait is guru in my book.

Why Aren’t You Using Linkbait?

Copyright  2006 Kim Roach, All Rights Reserved

You’ve heard of the olden days when people would hunt for potential link partners. Well, those days are long gone and smart web masters are moving on to greater things, while decreasing their effort to build incoming links.

If you are wondering what this new technique could be, it’s actually quite simple… in theory. It is known as linkbaiting. This is a strategy that brings links to a website simply because of the unique and popular content on a website.

With the rise of the blogosphere and social bookmarking sites, all it takes is one person to notice an interesting page and link to a site. Once a link is passed around once, it becomes easier for it to spread further.

Bloggers around the net constanly use linkbait to encourage other bloggers to mention them or to get their content passed around the blogosphere. However, many traditional web masters have not quite latched on to this powerful technique.

The benefits of creating quality, unique, or even controversial content go way beyond what one might first imagine. When a web site offers true value to the visitor, they can create hundreds and even thousands of backlinks without even asking.

Unfortunately, simply having good, quality content on your site doesn’t always work. To gain the full potential of linkbaiting, you need a good hook. Some of the most popular ones include:

• News
• Controversy
• Resources and…
• Humor

News Hook: Everyone loves to read about industry news. However, the key to attracting some real traffic is to add a twist to the latest news. Find out exactly how it affects your web site visitors. If you just give a rehashing of what everyone else has already said, no one will care.

However, if you inject your own twist or personality into your news story, then you are prepared to catch someones eye.

Look at CNN.com as an example. What do they offer? They provide the latest news every day of the week. In the world of information that we live in, news is a commodity. Because CNN offers such appealing content, thousands of sites are linking to them. Do you think CNN sent these sites a little email asking if they would be interested in a reciprical link? Of course not.

Instead, they employ linkbaiting. Their fresh and interesting content automatically encourages other people to link to it. Luckily for us, we can use this same technique on our own web sites.

News is one of the best ways to attract incoming links, especially if the news is controversial.

Controversy Hook: Before we move on, I must warn you that this hook can be very powerful and also very dangerous. It involves contradicting what someone says, preferably someone very prominent in the industry.

When used correctly, controversy can be very effective in bringing traffic to your site, but always be careful.

To begin, look for articles and stories in your industry. Some of the best places to find this type of content is on blogs, news sites, and social bookmarking sites. Once you have found a good story, take an opposing viewpoint or give it some sort of twist. This will make your content stand out from the hum drum of what everyone else is publishing.

The next hook is actually one of my favorites. It is known as the resource hook.

Resource Hook: Information is powerful online. If you have information that is not available anywhere else, you become an authoritative resource. Many of these resources come in the form of a list.

You would be surprised at the power of a list. You can organize:

• a list of helpful tools that would be beneficial to your readers
• a list of the best blogs in your niche
• a list of popular news stories within your industry (When you are doing this kind of list, be sure to sprinkle in some of your own commentary)

One of my favorite lists is located at http://www.seocompany.ca/tool/seo-tools.html, where they offer over 150 SEO tools. Simply by linking out to their favorite SEO tools they get tons of traffic each and every day.

Robin Good of MasterNewMedia is a webmaster who uses lists especially well. One of his most popular resource pages is a list of rss and blog directories that web masters can submit to. You can take a look at it at: http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/ .

However, not only does he show you over a hundred places where you can submit your blog and rss feed, he also gives you an overview of each service, some commentary on which of these directories are the most influential, and exactly how to submit to each one.

This one page alone has thousands of incoming links to it because it is an invaluable resource.

Another popular resource hook is to create a useful online tool that your visitors can download for free. Once they have downloaded your free tool, let them rebrand it and give it away on their own sites.

Humor Hook: Have you ever received a joke or some other sort of humor in your inbox? If you are like most people, then you probably have. Jokes, funny stories, and wierd pictures are some of the most viral hooks on the Internet.

Within your own web site, you can add your own touch of humor. However, you must make sure that it fits with your personality. People on the internet want to see your true self.

Many companies have made their web sites an impersonal void. This is not the way the web works. The Web is an engaging and interactive community of people. When you start giving your web site some personality, people will start taking notice. The ordinary is simply too easy to pass over.

Another key to remember when employing linkbaiting is that your article or news story should almost always link out to leading industry web sites or influential bloggers. There are so many web sites who are afraid to link out to other sites. However, by mentioning other web sites and bloggers, you would be surprised at the number of people who start linking to you.

Bloggers are a group of web masters who realize the power of linking to others. Within the blogoshpere, links are spread willingly to those who provide great content. As a result, they all receive more traffic than they would alone.

Final Verdict

The term linkbaiting itself may sound a little fishy, but it’s not. If you are a good web master, you should always strive for your content to be linkbait. This simply means that your content is of such quality that others simply can’t help but link to it.
Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor for the SiteProNews & SEO-News (http://www.seo-news.com) newsletters. You can contact Kim at: kim@seo-news.com.

One More Type of Linkbait Article

I would add one thing to tie this up: Kim mentions News, Controversy, Resource List, and Humor, for types of linkbait article hooks. I’d add Research Article hook. Find a targeted topic that appeals to your market audience, build out a detailed outline, do some research (I have a list of research sources on my Massive List of Copywriters Resources page – my linkbait plug, btw),  stack the article with data and insight combined with spot-on writing– and you have a potential live wire chunk of content you can promote in a variety of ways to leverage it’s link-value. Why intensely researched linkbait? Most of your competitors never produce content this authoritative–NEVER. It’s not something they can do themselves (easily, anyway) and many don’t have the business foresight to realize the link-traffic ROI  compared to the money they may need to invest for a linkbait experienced copywriter.

I challenge you to figure out where in your IM blueprint linkbait may be a smart content component. I guarantee most of your competitors are NOT engaging in this advanced copy and linking strategy.

Heiku-Sport startet ein Gewinnspiel-Linkbait-Dings: Wer einen Link auf ihre Seite setzt und bescheid sagt, kann etwas gewinnen. Naja, nicht grade die einfallsreichste Aktion, aber mal sehen was es bringt.

Da meine ganze Dartausrüstung von denen ist und ich total scharf auf den zweiten Preis bin (*sabber*, das Ding wollte ich schon immer haben!) und ich den Shop wirklich gut finde (sowohl online als auch Ladengeschäft), gebe ich dann auch gerne Links.

Mein Lieblingsprodukt ist etwas ganz einfaches: Dart Flight Nylon Pear – ein einfacher abgerundeter schlicht schwarzer Nylon Flight für nur 90 Cent. Ich habe echt nach schlichten Flights gesucht (wer will schon Totenköpfe oder Deutschlandflaggen?) und diese fliegen super und halten bei mir schon locker ein Jahr.

Wie gesagt, ich finde den Shop super, nutze aber die Gelegenheit auch gleich um Kritik loszuwerden:

1. Die Versandkosten sind bei kleinen Bestellungen viel zu hoch. Wenn ich nur ein paar Spitzen und Flights nachbestellen will (weil die immer kaputt gehen), muss ich 6,90€ Versand latzen. Das ist doof, vor allem, weil die auch in einen Großbrief für 1,40€ passen würden. Der Shop richtet sich eben eher an Profis (Spielhallen und so)
2. Der Online-Shop sortiert alles nach undurchsichtigen Kategorien. Bei den Flights bin ich dadurch nur am Suchen. Richtige Filter wären hier was feines: “Zeige nur einfarbige Flights unter 2€”.

So, genug Links gesetzt und Keywords gestreut, Google sollte glücklich sein, jetzt freu ich mich auf den Gewinn
Und falls ich mal im Lotto Gewinne bekommen die Jungs bei Heiku echt was zu tun: Dann stell ich mir da den ultimative Billard-Raum zusammen.

According to Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz, viral marketing is more efficient than simple social media marketing. For example, he says, “You go to Web 2.0 sites and approach these sites in the desire to be part of the community. We make the Yahoo, MSN, and Ask communities work for us. This now extends to social media to leverage them for success. How does this work? You can rule the search results, you can get link love, lots of traffic, and you can influence the traditional media as well.”

But, of course, it’s not that simple, is it? How do you go about getting link love or ruling those pesky search results? Not to mention the question of where on Earth to start!!

Some of the best places to start your viral assault are YouTube (millions of views per day, even if search engine results aren’t affected… your reputation will be!), Wikipedia, Yahoo! Answers, LinkdIn, Flickr, Craigslist, and of course sites like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.

Fishkin illustrates the usefulness of these sites stating, “In December of 2005, YouTube became more popular in a month. What did that? Lazy Sunday from Saturday Night Live was put there, and now YouTube dominates the market. Viral media gives you the ability to brand. Viral media causes search rankings through links and viral media means that you are growing your fan base. RSS subscribers go up.”

However, it’s not that simple. There are millions of YouTuber’s out there and each of them is trying their hardest to go viral. Remember the first viral video? When the then-18-year-old Gary Brolsma filmed himself lip synching in front of his webcam to the Romanian pop band, O-Zone? The “Numa Numa Song” has since been viewed over 30 million times.

For those of us less talented, we have to rely on linkbait.

You say what?

Yes, linkbaiting (sounds highly illegal to me!) The term linkbaiting is one that seems to have surfaced over the past few years and is used by webmasters to describe a variety of practices – all of which seek to generate incoming links to a website or blog from other sites.

It is actually a difficult term to be definitive about as it covers a lot of different practices ranging from running awards or competitions, through to writing attacking posts on high profile bloggers in the hope of them biting back and linking to you, through to providing other bloggers or site owners with tools (with embedded links back to your own site) that they can put on their blogs.

Some argue strongly that link generation is just a by-product of quality content, others argue that many linkbaiting strategies border on spam, others seem to talk about linkbait as being the answer to all web promotional problems (increasingly SEO companies are offering linkbaiting services). I’m not quite sure where my morals lie when it comes to linkbait. For one it just sounds so dirty … for some of you that could be a definite plus! and if you’re in for the quick and dirty then there are many sites that facilitate baiting that dangling hook.

Some of these include:
1. Digg
2. Reddit
3. StumbleUpon – toolbar sends a lot of traffic. There are 2.5 million users click on the Stumble bar when they are on the phone with their clients.
4. del.icio.us
6. Newsvine
7. Boing Boing
8. Fark
9. Engadget
10. Yahoo! Picks – send decent traffic. It’s tough to get there.

According to Mr. Fishking viral marketing really IS that powerful. His site SEOMoz generated 724,200 links in less than three years.

Link Bait

Link baiting (or linkbaiting) is the latest buzz word in the SEO world and has come to be the preferred way to natural link building. It means to create something that naturally attract backlinks for your web page by getting people to talk about it, discussing it on forums and  blogging.

Link bait in search engine optimization – The quantity and quality of inbound links are two of the many metrics used by a search engine ranking algorithm to rank a website. Link bait creation falls under the task of link building, and aims to increase the quantity of high-quality, relevant links to a website. Part of successful linkbaiting is devising a mini-PR campaign around the release of a link bait article so that bloggers and social media users are made aware and can help promote the piece in tandem. Social media traffic can generate a substantial amount of links to a single web page. Sustainable link bait is rooted in quality content.

 Types of link bait

Informational hooks - Provide information that a reader may find very useful. Some rare tips and tricks or any personal experience through which readers can benefit.
News hooks - Provide fresh information and obtain citations and links as the news spreads.
Humor hooks – Tell a funny story or a joke. A bizarre picture of your subject or mocking cartoons can also prove to be link bait.
Evil hooks - Saying something unpopular or mean may also yield a lot of attention. Writing about something that is not appealing about a product or a popular blogger. Provide strong reasons for it.
Tool hooks - Create some sort of tool that is useful enough that people link to it.
Widgets hooks - A badge or tool, that can be placed or embedded on other websites, with a link included.

Ideas for Linking Bait:

• Make a valuable resource (lists, special reports, history of, how to, etc.)
• Interview (e-mail/phone) prominent people and publish it.
• Build a useful tool
• Write an interesting article
• Run a newsworthy ‘event’ such as a contest
• Test something new that has not been done before
• Be the first in doing something on the internet
• Write something controversial
• Be the first to write the latest news in your niche
• Be the first to expose a scammer
• Disagree with an authority
• Write some funny humor
• Make an interesting picture
• Be the first to research and document something
• Make a theme, plug-in or piece of software
• Make a tool that others can put on their sites but that links to you
• Make a joke about a known person
• Make a resource that is just in time for a major event
• Write an outrageous theory and back it up with logics
• Write useful comments on something that is happening
• Give something valuable for free
• Coin a new acronym in your niche and get people to talk about it
• Become an expert in your niche and write valuable information

SEO Company Pakistan

ein interessantes video, in dem matt cutts von google über ein beispiel berichtet, in dem *ohne* großen finanziellen aufwand, aber mit viel cleverness die anzahl der backlinks einer seite unglaublich geboostet wurde.

Hello, salut, bonjour, hola, etc. Since you are reading this I guess you have been following me for quite some time now and are interested to learn more about me. I’m 20 years old and live in Sweden with my parents. It’s roughly one year ago since I completed high school and was sent of to do something with my life. Unfortunately I got injured and everything were put put on halt.

Now it’s time for me do step up and do something about it. I will not be the one who was left behind!

I will use this blog and write under a pseudonym to express my true feelings and hopefully convince more of you to take a step out in the unknown. Together we will find our path to true happiness!

Eine ganz tolle Aktion bietet derzeit das Portal tourist-online.de: hat man eine eigene Website und verlinkt das Portal, oder man hat einen Weblog und bloggt über das Portal (und verlinkt es natürlich auch), so erhält man als Gegenleistung einen Gutschein für einen Aufenthalt in einer Appartmentanlage auf Kreta. Gut, einen Haken hat die Sache für Blogger: der Blog muss mehr als 10 Beiträge umfassen und bereits seit 2008 online sein – meiner hier darf also noch nicht mitmachen. Aber ich blogge trotzdem darüber, da mir die Idee einfach gefällt.
Wie dem auch sei, bezahlt wird jedenfalls der Aufenthalt in der Ferienwohnung, Nebenkosten und etwaige Zusatzleistungen sind extra zu bezahlen, ebenso natürlich die Anreise (eh klar).

Wer will kann sich unter folgenden Links weiter darüber informieren:
http://www.tourist-online.de/ferienhaus-promotion
http://www.tourist-online.de/kreta-blogger-aktion
http://www.tourist-online.de/Feriendorf-Dionysos

Und zum Abschluss noch ein Wunsch: da ich selbst diese Aktion ja nicht nutzen kann – vielleicht hat ja ein Blogger, der über diesen Eintrag hier von der Aktion erfährt einen Backlink für mich? So als Dankeschön? Wäre nett !

Den här postningen kan ni hoppa över eller nåt, jag måste bara försöka att för mig själv formulera några tankar kring diskussionen om Skugge vs von Sydow. (men om du orkar kan du läsa ändå och försöka svara på frågorna på slutet…)

Förutom själva kriget som handlar om huruvida en kvinna med barn är en bättre människa än en kvinna utan, så har det framkommit tankar om att dels Linda Skugge helt enkelt är proffs på att starta “linkbaits” och vi som nappar på betet sväljer som fån. (komiskt att de som skriver och kommenterar just det också nappar på betet)
Sedan reagerar somliga över just att kvinnor verkar vara varandras värsta fiender.

På frågeställning nummer ett är det väl helt enkelt så att en skicklig provokatör är en skicklig provokatör och målet är väl nu som förr att få igång en debatt, sedan om den sker på nätet med länkjuice som bonus eller som förr på tidningarnas debattsidor är väl egalt.
Skillnaden är att i bloggvärlden kan vem som helst haka på debatten och göra sin röst hörd, och att mindre kända bloggare tar draghjälp av storheter som Skugge och von Sydow är rätt logiskt.

Så till det där med att kvinnor är varandras fiender.
Ja. Jag har ofta reagerat på att kvinnor är elaka mot varandra, oförstående och agerar som konkurrenter i allt och ständigt, medan män av någon anledning är betydligt bättre på att ge varandra credd. Men jag har också noterat motsatsen. Som exempel kan väl sägas att fem av sju Stora bloggpriser gick till kvinnor. Kvinnor i bloggvärlden är ofta duktiga på att länka till varandra, lyfta fram, stötta och uppmuntra varandra. Det är mindre vanligt bland de yngre, tonåringarna som häckar på blogg.se. De är inte alls duktiga på att länka, och det kanske ligger i tonåringarnas natur att vara extremt egotrippade och lite osäkra och rädda för att någon annan ska bli populärare, mer sedd och så vidare.

Men bland de äldre tycker jag inte att det fungerar så. Faktiskt. Kvinnor tar hand om varandra. I väldigt hög utsträckning. Men det behöver inte gå till överdrift. Det måste inte vara antingen eller. Jag måste väl inte hålla ihop med alla världens kvinnor i alla frågor, bara för att de råkar vara kvinnor?

Ta Linda Skugge. Jag kan inte identifiera mig med henne, nej. Att hon är kvinna räcker inte för att jag per automatik ska känna sympati. Eftersom hon är en debattör kommenterar jag ibland saker hon skriver. För det mesta håller jag inte med henne. Men det är inte för att jag ser henne som en fiende. De gånger Linda skriver bra saker brukar jag credda henne. Det behöver faktiskt inte vara antingen eller. Och kvinnor måste kunna kritisera varandra. Att våga ge kritik och inte bara stryka medhårs är något bra, utvecklande för individer och för samhället.

Mycket i livet handlar om konkurrens. Det kan vara konkurrens om att hitta den bästa partnern, konkurrens om jobb, ja konkurrens om det mesta.
Men där männen istället för att slå ner på andra män för att nå dit de vill så creddar de andra män och jobbar hårt för att helt enkelt vara bäst på det de gör, det tar sakerna i egna händer och bestämmer sig helt sonika för att lägga vantarna på den kvinnan eller det jobbet de vill ha. Samtidigt är det inte ovanligt att kvinnorna istället för att bara köra hårt börjar slå ner på och kritisera sina konkurrenter. Som att de på något sätt känner sig bättre själva om de får hugga på någon annan.
Vad beror det på?
Att kvinnor generellt har sämre självförtroende än män?
Och i så fall, varför?
Hur stor betydelse har andra kvinnors kritik?

Jag skrev för länge sedan en postning där jag hävdade att jag hellre står naken inför tusen militärer än inför tio andra kvinnor i ett offentligt omklädningsrum, för att kvinnors kritiska blickar och jämförande är så jävla mycket värre än männen som de fakto är mer benägna att acceptera och gilla vad de ser hur man än ser ut.
Varför är det så?

Hur balanserar man detta? Hur kan kvinnor bli bättre på att stötta och inte ta ner varandra utan att börja trippa på tå och aldrig våga säga ifrån när en annan kvinna är ute och cyklar?

Många frågor, jag har inga svar. Har du några?

Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om Skugge vs von Sydow, Bloggkrig, måste kvinnor hålla ihop?

Ingen bomber her, men helt klart personer som har preget vår kultur det siste året. Movers & Shakers, the lot of them!

Les lista og mer her.

Lister = Linkbait, men whatevs…

/Kenneth Tangnes

There is an old adage that is regularly used by motivational speakers and marketers (and my friend Iain Swanston who provides sales training in Scotland) about catching monkeys. The story goes that in Africa and India, in order to catch a monkey, natives would fill a vase, or hollowed coconut with a hole big enough to allow an empty monkeys paw to fit through with peanuts (or a banana) so that when a monkey reaches in and grabs the peanuts/banana, it cannot remove its hand full of goodies and becomes trapped due to the increase in size. The monkey is then reeled in by a piece of string attached to the vase/coconut etc, however, he (or she) could easily escape were they only to let go of the “prize”.

Banana's - Great for catching Monkey's, not so great for linkbait though...

The moral behind this story from a marketer’s perspective is clearly that, in order to acquire clients/visitors/readers etc, give them something for free (or that seems free) and that appeals to them in the short term but doesn’t provide the lasting solution to their problem. This principle has been in action for a long time in traditional, offline marketing (think “free samples”, “test drives” etc) but has only really begun to be creatively developed in online marketing in the last couple of years.

There are of course a number of ways in which this adage can be applied to online marketing. “Linkbait”, content that is of value (whether it be comedic, informative etc) enough that it is worth sharing with others, is of course one application. In the last few years the spread of linkbait has increased as dramatically as the formats it appears in, everything from the news worthy stories that appear on Digg to the Guardian newspaper’s new Premier League “chalkboard” player analysis tool which allows visitors to quickly find out statistics such as shots on goal, goals, shots on target etc in any game this season and for any player from any team. The chalkboard also displays where the shots were taken from on the pitch through a slick but simple pitch graphic. Features like this not only dramatically increase the amount of time users spend on the website but also ensure that they will tell others about it and ultimately link back to it through forums, blogs and social networking, improving the websites reputation and search engine rankings.

Therefore, one of the keys to achieving a steady flow of traffic to your website is to develop some unique (it doesn’t always have to be but will be even more successful if it is) linkbait. While this is easier said than done, most businesses work in an industry where there is at least one useful thing (information/application etc) that they could share online in order to attract links and visitors. It just requires some thought!

Coming up with good Linkbait isn't easy, it requires some thought!

At Web Wise Business for example, we offer a free trial of a mortgage calculator that can be implemented on financial services website design. Not original by any stretch but it still draws a reasonable amount of additional traffic to the website and is an obvious step towards website development.

So why not give it a try and come up with ideas for some unique, engaging linkbait yourself and go out and catch some monkey’s!

Also dass Spam jetzt nicht die schlauste aller Werbemethoden ist war mir ja schon eine Weile klar… Diesmal haben diese Spinner aber mal wieder einen Rekord aufgestellt.

Irgendwo hatte vor kurzem mal jemand ein Blog ein Netbook verlost, Teilnahmebedingung war natürlich mal wieder ein Blogbeitrag über das Gewinnspiel mit Backlink. Halt Linkbaiting der dümmsten Sorte.

Ich habe es mir nicht nehmen lassen dazu auch meinen Kommentar abzugeben und habe heute dann darauf folgend eine E-Mail erhalten:

Hallo Frank,

ich hatte gesehen, dass Du an einem Netbook-Gewinnspiel teilgenommen hast. Vielleicht interessiert Dich ja auch das hier?

[SPAM-URL]

Lösungshinweis: “Netbook Test”

Viel Glück!

Gruß,
Trutz

Ähm.. ja.. der Link zu meinem Blog steht an einem Kommentar zu diesem Mist und tatsächlich kann man auf meinem Blog eine Mailadresse ala input von g33ky.de finden.
Wenn man schon bewusst und eigenhändisch Spam versenden will (danach sieht es zumindest aus), dann könnte man doch wenigstens überfliegen was dort gerade steht.

Klingt für irgendwen der folgende Kommentar als wäre ich an solchem Mist interessiert? Eigentlich dachte ich immer dass ich bisher recht deutlich zum Ausdruck gebracht hätte, was ich von derartigem Link-baiting halte.

Ist es noch “interessant” wie viele Blogger sich dazu hergeben diese Seite hirnlos zu verlinken nur weil ihnen die vage Möglichkeit auf einen Gewinn genannt wird oder läuft das schon eher unter bedenklich?

Ich verstehe ja durchaus wenn man sich für Hardware interessiert und darüber berichten will. Ich verstehe ebenso wenn man Links für Geld oder Sachwerte verkauft. Was ich nicht verstehe sind diese naiven Typen die sobald ein Gewinn in aussicht steht jeden Verstand verlieren. (Wobei ein Netbook vlt. noch etwas ist das auch durch die Anzahl der Teilnehmer geteilt noch einen kleinen Gewinn vorweisen kann, der den Aufwand wert sein könnte aber es gibt ja auch den selben Effekt wenn jemand ein Shirt oder ähnlichen Blödsinn verlost).

Natürlich kann jeder mit seinem Blog oder seiner Website machen was auch immer er will… aber über alle betrachtet ist es verdammt dämlich und zeugt noch immer von unzureichender Glaubwürdigkeit der Blogs im allgemeinen.

Also “Trutz” (oder eher Cornelia?), wie ich auf deiner Seite sehe (nicht die in deiner E-Mail verlinkte, sondern die Domain unter der du auch deine E-Mailadresse verwendest) hast du irgendwie mit diversen Anwälten zu tun. Das finde ich klasse! Dann tu doch mal bitte folgendes: Gehe zu deinem Anwalt des Vertrauens und frage ihn wie das rein rechtlich mit Werbemails so steht in Deutschland. Die sind nämlich schon lange nicht mehr nur grenzwertig.
Wenn gerade doch kein Anwalt greifbar ist, empfehle ich dir wenigstens mal den passenden Wikipedia-Artikel zu lesen, dort steht auch schon einiges interessantes zum Thema.

Das neue UWG (seit 2004) regelt unmissverständlich die Ansprüche, die an E-Mail-Werbung gestellt werden, damit sie wettbewerbsrechtlich einwandfrei ist. Dazu gehört insbesondere, dass der Empfänger in die Zusendung von Werbung per E-Mail vorher eingewilligt hat.

Also “Trutz”, ich habe dir weder jemals erlaubt mir Werbemails mit eindeutig wirtschaftlichem Interesse zu senden, noch stehen oder standen wir in irgend einer Art von Geschäftsbeziehung von der ich wüsste. Da dies die erste Mail von dir war, werde ich das erstmal noch durchgehen lassen, bei weiteren muss ich dir leider für die Entsorgung und den sonstigen Aufwand der für mich entsteht (Blacklisting, Arbeitszeitverluste beim Lesen, Recherche für Beschwerden, Sammeln von Informationen über die Rechtslage, …) meine Unkosten in Rechnung stellen. Derzeit belaufen sich diese auf 4€ pro ungewünscht zugesendeter E-Mail. Du kannst natürlich jederzeit Einspruch gegen diese Gebühren einlegen (Annahme aus technischen Gründen leider nur per Post an die im Impressum genannte Adresse) oder einfach auf die Sendung weiterer Mails verzichten. Solltest du jedoch weitere E-Mail-Nachrichten senden, sehe ich die Bedingungen als akzeptiert an und werde eine Rechnung schreiben. Deine Adresse finde ich schon.. auch wenn du sie ziemlich gut auf deiner Seite versteckt hast… ob das als Impressum überhaupt zulässig ist (und du brauchst im Gegensatz zu mir eins, da du gewerbliche Absichten hegst) will ich hier lieber garnicht erst erörtern.

Diese Bedingungen gelten übrirgens auch für alle anderen. Privat darf mir gerne jeder so viele Nachrichten schicken wie er will und ich freue mich immer über Hinweise oder Themenvorschläge. Gewerbliche Absichten jedoch, vor allem Personen die mich offensichtlich für blöd halten und dies oberflächlich zu verstecken versuchen, verbitte ich mir.

When one of my pals jumps on Twitter for the first time, they invariably say something like, who’s this Chris Brogan you keep talking about?

This is what I like to call the First Stage of Chris Brogan – IGNORANCE.

The next stage isn’t very nice. That’s where you discover that he is THE MAN on Twitter and in social media. And what do you want to do? Knock him down! (Perhaps this stage only applies to males.) This is where you make dumb jokes or say mean things about Chris Brogan. Second Stage of Chris Brogan – COMPETITION.

Then perhaps you reach the point where you have actually checked out his blog and realized he’s the perfect guide to this strange new world you’re now inhabiting. Maybe you’ve even subscribed or left a comment. Third Stage of Chris Brogan – AWE.

After learning some really cool things, you’ve got so wrapped up in the tools and culture you’re in, that you almost forget about Chris Brogan. Fourth Stage of Chris Brogan – FORGETFULNESS

Then you get his blog again in your inbox, and you’re like, “Wow, it’s almost like Chris wrote this just for me!” And you’re talking to and learning from Chris Brogan. Fifth Stage of Chris Brogan – LOVE

Sixth Stage – you tell me. I don’t really know the guy that well, yet.

(photo by chipgriffin)

Continually adding original, relevant, keyword-rich and thought-provoking linkbaiting content to your site attracts search engine rankings, largely by providing valuable content to your industry community and encouraging an on-line dialogue. Strong linkbaiting often features targeted research, compelling arguments and opinions, creative and informative penmanship, and insightful critical analysis – all aspects of creativing writing and political science studies!

We have already talked abit about linkbaiting. We discussed how developing insightful and thought-provoking linkbaiting content for your site is a great way to attract engine rankings. We also mentioned how great linkbaiting not only provides valuable content to your industry community, but also encourages an on-line dialogue with members of your market audience, be they local, national or international. An informative conversation open to other points of view invariably encourages others to put their own two cents in.

Strong linkbaiting often features targeted research, thought-provoking arguments and ideas, creative and informative penmanship, and insightful critical analysis. Sound familiar? If you believed your mother when she told you during your college or university days that it was a complete waste of time to take those Creative Writing and Political Science courses, it’s time to reconsider her opinions.

The truth is that the type of research and writing skills you developed in pursuing that Arts or Social Science degree will come in very handy if you are creating site content for linkbaiting. Okay, so you think that surely you have long forgotten many of the details from the credit courses in English, Philosophy and Political Science that you took at FunRide College or Slackers University. Chances are, however, that many of those penmanship skills are still with you – researching, collecting and classifying information, developing ideas, considering the pros and cons of a particular issue, summarizing, offering concise critical analysis, even engendering an insightful dialogue with others. All these impressive and valuable abilities take considerable effort and time (and tuition fees!) to develop and should not be downplayed. And all these skills are really essential to strong linkbaiting. Next time your family or friends dish your arts or social science background, or that Introduction to World Politics course you took back in year one of your studies, be sure to remind them how relevant those courses have become, now that you are a professional linkbaiter! And make sure that your former college and/or university advisor/counselor arranges to have “Linkbaiting” added to the Career Section of the school’s Social Science brochure.